Discussion about the Korg PolySix synthesizer

 

Hi All,

Last summer, I modified my Polysix to have a new "Poly-Unison" mode to simulate the richer dual-oscillator sound of the more expensive polysynths that came before the Polysix.  I finally got around to recording a demo and writing a few notes about the mod.  If you're interested, check it out at: 

http://synthhacker.blogspot.com/2014/01/polysix-poly-unison-mode.html

Chip

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Tobias Münzer
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I'd played around with the 2-voice configuration (ie, 3 oscillators per voice), but I found that the voice-stealing was too distracting.

The problem is when holding a steady bass note with the left hand while playing a melody line in the right hand.  In the 2-voice configuration, any little bit of legato playing with the right hand causes the bass note to be stolen unexpectedly.  Since steady bass notes often beg for legato melodies, this is a very annoying behavior.

So, I found that the 3-voice configuration (ie, 2 oscilllators per voice) works much better in practice.   But, that's just my opinion.

Chip

Very cool, Chip. I've been reading your blog and Arduino hacks with interest. Also liked the Fatar & Aftertouch keyboard installation.

From this new mod, do you think it would be possible to have the Polysix function in split configuration, e.g. 2-note bass and 3 or 4-note chord?

Yash

Yes, it would be very possible to do what you suggest.  The only problem would be the same as I stated in my  previous reply: voice stealing would be very annoying.

Let's say that you used two voices per note on the bass side, and 3 (or 4) voices per "note" on the treble side, you would have to make absolutely sure that you had released one key before pressing the next key.  If you are sustaining a bass note (with 2 voices) and you play a legato line on the right hand, you will end up stealing the voices from the bass note.  It would sound very abrupt and non-musical.

One work-around is to introduce a virtual split in the keyboard.  In this concept, you would not allow the synth to steal the voice from the other half of the keyboard.  So, any legato playing by the right hand would only steal voices from the right half of the keyboard.   That actually sounds like a pretty good solution.

For me though, I have played on synths where you can create virtual splits like this.  They never work for me personally.  I always end up bringing my hands together and trying to play right on the split.  It's like a curse or something.  But, that's just me.

A split keyboard arrangement sounds like a decent way of avoiding the voice-stealing problem.

Chip

A split like what the Angel City mod did to the Korg DW-8000 would be awesome.

The thing is: you would want to have one timbre for the bass and a different one for the chord or lead sound.

The best voice-stealing I've heard (or rather not heard, which is why it's so good), is the Kurzweil K2xxx series one: it steals from the voice which has reached the lowest volume if I'm not mistaken.

Yash